Two Months!

• Age: 2 months 1 day/8 weeks 6 days
• Weight: 8 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!! (20th percentile)
• Height:  21.75 inches (25th percentile)
• Head Circumference:  14.75 (25th percentile)
• Hair Color:  Brown
• Eye Color: Grey blue (the doctor said this will change to her permanent color between 6 and 9 months)
• Diaper Size:  Newborn (She was in preemie diapers for the first month)
• Clothing Size:  0-3 (We just changed to this size 2 weeks ago.  Only some of her 0-3 clothes fit.  Some are still huge on her)
• Nicknames:  Baby Girl, Darling, Little One, Baby Bear (Phil now refers to me as Mama Bear)
• Expert Skills:  hiccupping, sneezing, pooping, stretching, eating, the pirate look (only opens one eye and looks at you questioningly), Elvis smile, rolling her tongue, tracking people, turning to voices, looking at toys, smiling, chewing on her hands when she is hungry to soothe herself
• Developing Skills: Hitting her toys, cooing, holding head up in her seat, sticking her tongue out when we do
• Likes:  Staring up at her toys, walks, her rock and play, Mommy making a squeaking noise, the bottle song, the sound effects we make when getting her dressed (choo choo noises when we put on socks)
• Dislikes:  spitting up, reflux, her heart medicines, nightmares (she cries out and makes the saddest face and then is fine again), Mommy making a motorboat sound
• Mommy's Favorite:  When she smiles, snuggles!
• Daddy's Favorite:  When she smiles
• Toys:  Mirrors, laying on her mat playing with hanging toys, Mommy and Daddy!
• Sleep:  A 4 - 5 hour stint at night and a 3 hour stint.  We aren't allowed to let her go longer than 5 hours at night without a feeding.  During the day she was napping well but now she is mainly just doing cat naps.  
• Feeding:  About 2 oz of formula every 2-3 hours.  Most feedings are taking about an hour.  

Caroline is becoming more and more interactive every day! She has an amazing attention span for a two month old.  She will lay there and play with her toys for a good 15-20 minutes!  She has recently started mimicking us when we stick out our tongue.  It also makes her smile.  She loves it when we talk to her or make noises.  She has started making more noises herself so we make sure to mimic her when she does in order to help encourage her.  

We had our first trip out of town when we went to a wedding in Charlottesville (congrats Steve and Ellen!).  Phil's parents babysat her at a hotel while we had a fabulous time with a ton of Phil's fraternity brothers.  We ended coming back home that night and not spending the night at the hotel.  It was a great first date night out!

Caroline had her first trip to Colonial Beach over Memorial Day.  We were so excited to introduce her to this family tradition.  I will have to upload photos of it at a later date.  


She and I spend most days hanging out, giving her a bath, playing with toys, going on walks, reading books, and eating.  Lots and lots of eating.

• Medications:  3!  Two for her heart and 1 for reflux
• Food:  Nutramigen i.e. super expensive formula---also we mix more formula per water in order to increase the calorie count
• Appetite:  She is eating about 2 oz at a feeding now.  That is new.  Until about a week ago we were lucky if she ate 1-1.5 oz.  (Normally babies are eating 4-5oz by this age).  
• Vaccines:  modified schedule due to her weight 

Caroline has FINALLY gained some weight.  From April 11-May 18 she gained ZERO weight.  She was stuck at 6 lbs 11oz. for 6 weeks!   She wasn't gaining weight because of her heart.  The hole in her heart makes it so some blood gets circulated through multiple times, which makes it work harder, which makes her burn calories.  Feeding takes most of a baby's energy so eating exhausts her.  All this means difficulty gaining weight.  Well at her doctor appointment on May 18th she had finally gained weight.  She weighed 7lbs 6oz.  We were so excited that I started jumping up and down.  We also asked them to weigh her again on another scale just to make sure ;)  When we went to the doctor today she weighed 8 pounds!!!!  This is HUGE in our world :)


We think what helped her gain weight was increasing the heart medications she is on and switching to an all formula diet.  It was a very hard decision to stop nursing but it was best for her and for me.  I knew it wasn't my fault she wasn't gaining weight but it was making me very sad and frustrated.  It is much easier to have her not want to eat from a bottle than her not want to eat from me.  Another factor in her gaining weight was that I started reading Harry Potter to her.  We are already done with the first book and are a few chapters into book 2.  Clearly she has good literary taste :)  The last reason we think she gained weight is because the cardiologist scared the bageezus out of her.  At our May 11 appointment he mentioned the possibility of a temporary NG feeding tube if she continued to not gain weight.  This is a feeding tube that would go in through her nose, down her throat, and into her tummy.  Philip and I would have to feed her at night with a slow drip to help her gain weight.  If we used the feeding tube it would take the work out of eating for her and she would most likely gain weight. Well she clearly didn't want that feeding tube because she gained weight after the cardiologist's "threat" (though the feeding tube is still a possibility if she stops gaining again).  The cardiologist emphasizes that everything we are doing is only temporary.  It is all to get her to be the best candidate possible for the surgery.  So if it takes her an hour to eat, so be it.  If she wants to eat every hour, so be it.  Basically we feed her on demand all day.  We aren't allowed to do a feeding schedule.  We aren't allowed to have her go longer than 5 hours at night and 3 hours during the day without eating.  This usually isn't a problem but there have been a few nights where she wants to keep sleeping and we are just sticking a bottle in a sleeping baby's mouth and she eats while asleep.  Basically we are just stuffing that little baby with as much food as possible!  

As far as surgery goes we still do not know when it will be.  All the cardiologist has said is it will be sometime this summer.

Our newest issue is reflux.  She has been fussy because she doesn't feel well :(  Her fussiness is mainly her rubbing her head back and forth on our shoulder while we burp her.  We just sit there patting her back over and over again which helps stop her head rubbing.  We just started zantac so hopefully that will help.  We also bought a rock and play which keeps her elevated and soothed.  This week we started using a pacifier which seems to be helping the reflux as well.  At the appointments today the doctor said her fussiness could also be because of her age.  Evidently 6-8 week olds go through a fussy stage. 

The hardest part of all of this isn't the fact that she was having difficulty gaining weight.  We are actually quite relaxed about it most of the time.  We've both had our moments of worry but we know there is only so much we can do.  We are just trying to do the best we can.  The hardest part for us is the endless questions from others about her health.  While we know they are all out of love for us and for her they are quite draining.  We are trying to be relaxed about the whole thing but when everyone else is constantly asking when her next appointment will be, did she gain weight, when will she have surgery, etc. I start to lose my patience and start giving short answers because I don't want to talk about it.  I'd much rather talk about her cute noises, crazy hair, or funny noises/faces she makes when she poops.  I just want to focus on how amazing our daughter is rather than her heart condition.

We've been able to take her out to eat and to a store or two.  The doctors do not want us to have her outside very much, around crowds, by other kids, or operating machinery/driving a car (this is a warning on one of her medicines hahahahaha).  They told us if she gets sick she will have to be in the ICU because of her heart condition and low weight.  This has been hard for me because it limits who I can hang out with and when and where.  I have friends who are stay at home moms too but I can't have her around their kids.  Like the cardiologist keeps saying, this is all temporary.  I have been able to get out of the house some with her.  We go to doctor appointments, to Target, out to lunch or dinner, and on walks around the neighborhood.    


Phil and I are feeling really good about life right now.  We feel so blessed to have our amazing daughter.  Our favorite time is when the three of us get to hang out together.  This is especially true when she is awake and playing.  She is just so darn cute!  We have worked really hard to tackle parenting as a team and support each other when we feel challenged be it a scary spit-up or one of us is exhausted.  Overall we are feeling really confident.  Once we get one thing handled though we know a new challenge will always present itself, such is the nature of parenting right?


Our newest challenge is Phil's job.  His new client is in Baltimore.  When he got assigned to them we thought he would be working remotely from Richmond.  We just found out that he will be commuting to Baltimore every week for the next month or so.  He will be taking the train up on Monday mornings and come back on Thursday evenings.  We had our first taste of our new lifestyle this week.  The first day was really tough.  Caroline had a giant spit-up, an exploding poo all over herself and her carseat, and the dog acted up (more on that below).  My mother-in-law hung out with us the second day which was great!  Then the next day Phil came home.  Caroline and I started getting into a routine this past week as I became more comfortable being a single parent.  I think as I get more comfortable it will get easier.  It was really hard on Phil too.  He loves spending time with Caroline (and with me!).  We were able to facetime one another which was great!


Zach is still good around Caroline and likes her but the obsession with her has worn off.  When she started crying the other day he was sleeping.  Her crying woke him up so he looked up, turned toward her to see that she was crying, rolled his eyes, and lay back down.  I think we are dealing with a jealous doggie.  While Phil was gone this past week Zach decided to jump on the couch and pee on it.  Yes pee on our couch!  The thing is I had just taken both of them on a mile long walk!  So it's not like he is being ignored!  We've been working on giving him more attention since then.   

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Well I think that's it.  I will continue to only do monthly updates though I have a couple of funny quick posts planned about Caroline's hair and poop.  I tend to update the shutterfly photos more frequently.  They are a lot easier to deal with then this blog because writing posts takes me hours to do.  This one has taken me days to write!

Again, thank you for all the sweet messages, cards, and presents.  I haven't been able to respond to most messages but they are really appreciated.  It is really hard for me to sit down in front of a computer these days!

To see photos and video from May check out our shutterfly photo share site.  You need a password to view the pictures.  If you would like the password all you have to do is ask :) 

Our dear friend Julie who took the photos of Emily took a few photos of Caroline when she came to meet her at 2 weeks old.  You can view those photos here

Have a wonderful June!

Love,

Megan